Trump made foreign policy into an identity politics issue starting in 2014 when the Republican Party ran ads linking Ebola-infected ISIS members crossing the border with Iranian support, which presaged Trump's later use of foreign policy for identity signaling.
causalpending
Speaker
Unidentified Speaker — Ben Rhodes: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in America… [-MCZ-F_t578]Evidence Quote
“there were ads in 2014 I remember midterm elections that tied together it was a uh there were Ebola infected Isis members who were going to cross our Southern border with the support of the Iranian revolutionary guard that was actually a true like set of ads that ran in that campaign cycle [59:03]”
Source
Ben Rhodes: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign Policy— Weatherhead Center for International AffairsCreated: 8/11/2026, 7:23:32 AM
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